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House committee moves budget bill

The Kansas House will debate an appropriations bill that would increase spending in the state's fiscal year 2012 but comes with a price tag well under the budget request of Gov. Sam Brownback.

Members of the House Appropriations Committee amended the bill Tuesday morning before voting to send it along to the full House for floor debate. It wasn’t clear when that debate will be held.

The bill is about $7.1 million below the spending level sought by Brownback for 2012 and is $55.9 million below Brownback's recommendations for 2012 and the remainder of 2011. Cuts in the current budget were required to eliminate a deficit.

Before approving the appropriations measure, however, committee members voted to exempt legislative committee staff members from a 7.5 percent pay cut for state workers that had been added to the bill on Monday. The pay cuts were expected to save the state about $19 million before committee staff members were exempted.

The committee restored to the bill about $521,000 for the Home and Community Based Service for the Frail Elderly. Several committee members noted the money had to be reinstated to the budget bill to satisfy federal government requirements that states maintain their spending efforts in some programs to be eligible for federal funds.

Committee members then voted to remove from the bill $558,000 allocated to indigents' defense services. The money had been placed in the bill to offset the loss of money from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act and a federal Justice Assistance Grant.

Rep. Marvin Kleeb, R-Overland Park, noted the parent agency of the defense fund had a budget of almost $22 million and could make efficiency moves to offset the loss of the federal funds.

A motion to move the appropriations bill to the full House with a favorable recommendation passed on a 12-10 vote, after several members lamented either that it hadn't cut the governor's request deeply enough or that it had carved too deeply into social services and punished state workers.

Rep. Virgil Peck, R-Tyro, said that he didn't like the spending level or the bill but that he supported moving it to the House floor, with reservations.